Here’s the plan these, these people have, the plan is to try to make Friscans dissatisfied with Our Flag and then, only after starting up some high-profile contest, would we consider which new design to pick.

But here you go, this is what the Designerly Community has in mind from the get-go, something like this…

…or this:

Is this what you want, Frisco?

All right, we’ll just have to wait and see how many “city officials” will join in this marketing effort for a North Bay tech firm, how many electeds will bring “color of authority” to this misinformed effort.

The yellow border, now reproduced as a part of the flag was originally intended to be a gold fringe, but mistakenly became incorporated into the design. When used indoors, as is the custom, a gold fringe is added to what was originally intended to be the fringe.

1. 99% Invisible is 99% good. It’s excellent, you know, generally, when it’s not taking time out to defend the Designerly Community.

2. The Bros of AutoDesk are all right as well. Just look at them maintaining focus under heavy pressure back when the Bay to Breakers fun run wasn’t completely shaped by an unholy alliance of Christian Billionaire Philip Anschutz + touchy millionaire NIMBY homeowners:

“Does it really matter if San Francisco has a better flag or not?” GOOD QUESTION. NOPE!

“San Francisco has a chance to define its values through an enduring, recognizable symbol.” MEH. BUT IF YOU WANT TO GET STARTED, HIRE A LOBBYIST TO START LOBBYING THE SUPES. IT’LL RUN YOU SOMETHING LIKE $10,000 A MONTH FOR MANY, MANY MONTHS. WELCOME TO FRISCO, OAKLANDER. P.S. HEY, GUESS WHAT – YOUR FLAG SUCKS TOO. IT VIOLATES ALL THE RULES ME AND MY CREW MADE UP. LET’S CHANGE IT NOW. TO WHAT, I DON’T KNOW, I WON’T SAY. JUST ANYTHING BUT AN OAK TREE, WHICH, YOU KNOW, HAS BEEN DONE, LIKE BY PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND AND MANY OTHERS. PLUS, IT SAYS “OAKLAND” RIGHT ON THE THING. WHAT COULD BE MORE BANAL? KELL DOMAGE!

Reader notes:

Caption from “War & Dissent: The U.S. in the Philippines, 1898-1902″ exhibit. Curated by Randolph Delehanty, Ph.D. of the Presidio Trust.

“In 1900, banker and art patron Mayor James Duval Phelan, mayor from 1897 to 1902, recommended to the Board of Supervisors that San Francisco adopt a flag and motto. Over 100 designs were submitted and John M. Gamble’s proposal was selected. It depicts a phoenix rising from its ashes on a white field. The mythological phoenix appears in many ancient cultures and is a symbol of immortality. When the long-lived phoenix feels death is near, it builds a nest of aromatic wood and sets it afire. A new phoenix then arises from the ashes, just as San Francisco arose from the great fires of the 1850s. The motto “Oro en paz y fierro en guerra” “Gold in Peace and Iron in War” refers to the city’s then-recent experience during the Spanish–American War as the embarkation point for troops to the Philippines in 1898.”

*The primary way our elites end up successfully imposing their “good design” upon San Franciscans is through turning an aestheticissue into a health and safety** matter.

**See how that works? The high school student who hasn’t actually hurt anybody IRLAFAIK is described as one who has “hurt a lot of people.” And in this town, some who are convicted of homicides end up getting probation or something like several months in jail…

(Oh hai! You’ve worked in SF media for “years and years” and yet you’ve never even heard of the term “Twitterloin” until you saw it in The Grey Lady in 2015? Whoo boy, you don’t get out into the field all that much, huh?)

Oh what’s that, you’re from SFGov or a taxpayer-funded org and you don’t like seeing auslanders use the T-word because EVERYTHING IS AWESOME under the regime of WillieBrownGavinNewsomEdLee? Well here’s your map then:

Now there’s a T-word you can get behind, huh?

And, more seriously, if you’re new in town, then this semi-recent (and perfectly legal!) pizza delivery no-go map is your lodestar:

Basically if you’re looking for trouble, start at 6th and Folsom, you know, on foot, and then head northwest and then take Eddy west all the way to Divisadero in the North of NoPA area. I’ll add, Gentle Visitor, that you’re not going to get killed or anything if you wander throughout the aspirationally-named “Uptown Tenderloin*” but it might go a little something like this.

Oh let the sun beat down upon my selfie-stick, stars to fill my dream I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been To pose for selfies with the gentle race, this world has seldom seen They talked for days of my new iPhone 6, and all will be revealed

“Getty Images dumps cliched stock photos for new ‘Lean In Collection.’ Getty Images in partnership with Lean In has launched the ‘Lean In Collection’ of stock photos, replacing the cliched, sterilized images of women and girls we have come to see on everything from billboards to magazine ads.”

Be my guest if you want to buy expensive “Lean In” brand photos, by all means.

If you use the term moderate, then that implies the opposition is immoderate, right?

So, imagine an aisle. Some are on the left of it and some are on the right of it and some have moved from left to right and some have moved from right to left and some camp out in the middle of the aisle blocking the exits.

In San Francisco, the San Francisco Bay Guardian is on the left side of that aisle and San Francisco Magazine is on the right.